Research

TRAC3 is currently working across a number of major work streams that are characterizing adaptation at the national and local levels and examining drivers and facilitators of adaptation policies and programs.

Tracking Adaptation Progress Among High-Income Countries

This project is assessing progress on adaptation among 41 high-income countries around the world. The goals of this study are to i) assess progress over time in the design and implementation of adaptation policies and programs across sectors; ii) characterise instances of transformative adaptation; and iii) model predictors of adaptation outcomes on a national level. We are identifying key trends in the evolution of adaptation implementation based on categories of action, stakeholder participation, and sectoral representation. The second stage of this project will model predictors of adaptation outcomes, including governance, natural resources, social systems, economic systems, and the built environment.

Tracking Global Urban Adaptation

Adaptation is inevitable as the impacts of climate change become wide-ranging and severe. Urban areas face significant risks as they are home to >50% of the world’s population and often concentrate economic activity in high risk locations. The extent of adaptation activity across urban areas globally, however, is unclear. This work stream develops and applies a novel method for tracking climate change adaptation in cities globally. The approach enables the rapid characterization of adaptation taking place in urban areas. In light of urgent needs to develop monitoring and evaluation (M&E) metrics as highlighted by IPCC AR5 this methodology quantifies the extent of adaptation occurring in cities and identifies gaps in adaptation.

Health Adaptation to Climate Change in Canadian Jurisdictions

In this study we apply a systematic review of grey literature in the Canadian public health sector to assess federal, provincial, territorial, and municipal adaptation to the health impacts of climate change. We identify and characterize health adaptation initiatives implemented by each jurisdiction, examine their jurisdictional patterning, and outline gaps in Canadian health adaptation. This work is being conducted under contract with the Public Health Agency of Canada.

Health Adaptation and Monitoring & Evaluation in the OECD

This project assesses the level of adaptation in the health sector across 10 OECD countries and the current state of government monitoring & evaluation (M&E) frameworks for these health adaptation initiatives. We are examining how the strategy or approach to health adaptation and M&E varies by country. This work is being conducted under contract with the Public Health Agency of Canada and Health Canada.

Evaluating Adaptation to Climate Change in Nunavut, Canada

This project assesses the current state of government-driven adaptation in Nunavut, including linkages, barriers, and interactions across scales. We 1) establish an adaptation baseline for Nunavut with a systematic review of adaptation policies, programs, and initiatives at the community, territorial, and federal levels; 2) create an adaptation evaluation framework that will be tested on the Terrain Analysis in Nunavut program in partnership with the Nunavut Climate Change Centre; and 3) analyze government-driven climate change adaptation in Nunavut by applying the Adaptation Readiness Framework.

Administrative Traditions and Adaptation Policies

This project aims to explore if UNFCCC Annex 1 countries with different administrative cultures have fundamentally different ways of adapting to climate change and whether or not this impacts their adaptation policy performance. In this study we classify and characterize countries by their administrative traditions and apply earlier developed typologies of climate change adaptation. Using some of our earlier developed datasets, we test several hypothesis derived from studies of comparative public administration, for example the policy misfit hypothesis.